Bogart’s Doughnuts trigger happy memories

I love doughnuts.

I have a particular happy memory about doughnuts. When I was in the University of Minnesota Marching Band (oh so many years ago) we had a couple of food rituals. One was apples. We always got apples in the stands after the halftime show. The other was doughnuts. After the game, we’d march back to Northrup Auditorium (the band office was in Northrup in those days) and there’d be boxes of doughnuts (and apple cider) for us in our main rehearsal room. (I think it was Room 5, if I remember correctly.)

I have no idea where the doughnuts came from. I particularly liked the cream-filled ones, either the vanilla cream or the chocolate cream. I didn’t particularly like the lemon filled doughnuts, which perhaps should be more properly called a Bismarck or Berliner. (Check the definitions from Serious Eats: Click here.)

Any of my old band mates who happen to read this post are welcome to fill in the blanks or correct my memories. But, I loved the marching band, and I loved the doughnuts after the game.

As much as I love doughnuts, I don’t eat them very often. I tried to make them several years ago; too much work. (Although, last year I found a recipe for Apple Butter Baked Doughnut Holes. They were fairly easy to make and turned out great. I served them for dessert after a Friday night dinner with our kids and grandkids. But a baked doughnut hole just isn’t the same thing as a crispy, hot fried doughnut.)

Earlier this year, I became aware of a neighborhood doughnut shop in South Minneapolis – Bogart’s Doughnut Co. “Hmmm,” I thought. “That would be a fun biking destination. It’s about a 7-mile ride. I could ride over, eat a doughnut and ride home.”

Well, you know how it is with good intentions. (The road to Hell is paved with them, they say.) So here it is October and while technically I probably could still be riding my bike, it’s starting to get cold (and dark) in the early morning when I ride. So, it’s probably not gonna happen.

But the other day, I happened to be in the neighborhood around mid-morning, and I just parked my car and bought a doughnut. They have a vanilla bean and butter cream filled doughnut made from brioche dough. I was tempted to see how it compared to my memory of the vanilla cream doughnuts from my marching band days. But instead, I opted for the Nutella filled doughnut (also made with brioche dough). It was great, and nothing like the chocolate cream filled doughnuts that I liked in my band days.

Bogart’s gets a lot of favorable press. They deserve it.